PERTEMP BEES 13 DONCASTER KNIGHTS 39
Report by John Lowe.
Doncaster travelled to Birmingham for their tenth league fixture of the season with Director of Rugby Clive Griffiths expecting a difficult, hard match after Bees emphatic away win at Waterloo last week and with their full “Gloucester” loan contingent available for selection. Griffiths recalled Paul Bailey (wing), Steve Boden (hooker) and Russell Earnshaw (flanker) after replacement duties last week whilst former Rotherham and Leicester prop John Rawson started his first league game of the season after being injured in the Knights’ final pre-season friendly.
The match was played throughout in almost perfect conditions with the Knights starting with the autumnal sun at their backs. After 2 minutes Bees were first on the scoreboard when Doncaster were penalised for not moving away from the ball at a ruck and Brad Davies kicked a penalty from 22 metres out and halfway towards the right touch. Doncaster came straight back and the pack immediately started making Bees creak. The five metre lineout from a Knights’ penalty was driven towards the goal line and, after two attacks were repulsed close in but with the referee still playing advantage, prop Rawson crashed over for his first try with his new club. Mark Woodrow’s excellent conversion against one of his former clubs extended the Knights’ lead. Doncaster had a let off after 10 minutes when their scrum half was adjudged to be offside at a scrum but Davies’s penalty attempt went wide. After 16 minutes, Doncaster took a quick tap penalty midfield and, after outstanding offloading between backs and forwards alike, full-back Wes Davies dived over 15 metre in from the right touchline which Woodrow again converted. With 22 minutes gone Davies missed another penalty for the Bees and shortly afterwards Doncaster centre Spencer Davey had to be helped from the field with suspected concussion. He was replaced by Anthony Carter who took Davies place at fullback to allow the latter to move into the centre. With 10 minutes to go Davies was successful with penalty from 22 metres when a Doncaster player was harshly adjudged to have deliberately knocked the ball on going for an interception. Doncaster piled on the pressure as half-time approached and, after Davies was tackled into touch inches short, skipper Jason Forster got onto the score sheet with yet another trademark try from a driving maul from a lineout close in. Woodrow’s excellent conversion from close to touch took his side into a 21 points to 6 lead at the interval.
Woodrow extended his side’s lead with a penalty 18 metres out after Carter was late-tackled as he followed up his own kick ahead. Shortly afterwards Knights had a scrum on the centre spot and, with the ball moved to right and with various dummy runners acting as decoys, the ball was passed inside to left wing Donavan Van Vuuren who made ground before passing to Davies, who although half stopped 15 metres out, managed to stay on his feet before being driven the remaining distance by his rampant pack with Forster inevitably the man to get the touchdown, his 13th of the season. This fourth try gave Knights their bonus point and Woodrow’s conversion extended their lead. As the game went into the fourth quarter Woodrow showed his kicking skills with a well struck drop goal from 35 metres out and the Knights were pulling away. After various tactical substitutions were made by both sides, Doncaster suffered a blow with 10 minutes left when their powerful No 8 Glen Wilson had to be led from the field with a suspected ankle ligament injury. With only 7 minutes remaining Doncaster gained another lineout close to the Bees line and, although Forster was now off the field having been replaced by Simon Grainger, their organization still held strong and lock Dan Cook was credited with the try following yet another driving maul. Woodrow’s miss spoiled an otherwise perfect kicking performance from the fly half and left the Knights clear winners by 39 points to 13.
Clive Griffiths was pleased with his side’s all-round performance which he described as their best of the season. Behind a rampaging pack, the Doncaster three quarters started to look impressive with Davies outstanding, Paul Bailey getting back to form, Donavan Van Vuuren now playing his way into full match fitness and centre Brad Hunt the unsung member of a very competent quartet. It’s back to the Midlands next weekend to visit Moseley.
Pertemps Bees: Goodridge; Billig: Knight: Davies: Nuttall (Petty 49): Brad Davies (Henderson 73): Spee (Baxter 73) : Asi (Sigley 67); Miles (Pearl 73); Long; Gabey: Davidson: Matthews (Miller 67): Qera; Halavatau
Doncaster Knights: Wes Davies; Bailey: Hunt: Davey (Carter 27); Van Vuuren; Woodrow (Benson 75); Jones (Storey 75); Bunting: Boden: Rawson (Tau 54); Gross (Kenworthy 62); Cooke: Earnshaw: Forster (Grainger 67); Wilson (Tom Davies 70).
Referee: Martin Fox (RFU) |
